On Tuesday 22 November, the Slovak Presidency of the Council, and the European Parliament, reached a final agreement on the draft regulation proposed by the European Commission in March 2013 to cut off the funding of armed and military groups in conflict zones – the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes region in particular – from the mining and sales of tin, gold, tantalum and tungsten. An agreement in principle was reached on 16 June (see EUROPE 11574).
"We have a...